How to Make Diagonal Text and Tile Images

Written by bridget conn

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Tiling an image only takes a few clicks of work, unlike tiling your bathroom. (Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images)

Learning to create text that reads on a diagonal that you can tile may come in handy for a website background. Whatever your purpose, these are two fairly easy processes that can be accomplished in an image-editing program. The free-download program GIMP makes tiling a quicker process, but transforming text is just as easy in GIMP as it is in Adobe Photoshop.

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Things you need

Instructions

Click the "Text" tool from the Toolbar, marked by a capital "T." Click the new blank image and type whatever words you wish.

3

Choose "Edit > Transform > Rotate" and a box will appear around the text. Click your mouse, holding down the button while you move it up or to the left to rotate the text to a diagonal angle. Press "Enter" to commit to this change.

4

Select "Edit > Define Pattern." The "Name Pattern" box will open. Type a name for your text and click "OK."

5

Create a new image by clicking "File > New." This image will contain your tiled text image. Choose a size large enough to tile your text image as many times as you need.

6

Click "Edit > Fill" and choose "Pattern" from the drop-down menu. Click the smaller drop-down menu below this, labelled "Custom Pattern." Scroll down to find your diagonal text image in the choices. Click the image and click "OK." The diagonal text will be tiled in your new image.

Choose the "Text" tool from your Toolbox, labelled as a bold letter "A." Click the image and the GIMP Text Editor box will appear. Type your text into the box and it will appear in the image. Click "Close" when finished.

3

Click the "Rotate" tool in your Toolbox, located above the "Text" tool. When the "Rotate" box appears, you can enter in an angle, or you can manually rotate the text to a diagonal with your mouse. Click "Rotate" to commit to the change.

4

Make sure the text layer is selected before navigating to "Filters > Map > Tile" from the top menu. The "Tile" box will appear, prompting you to enter a size for your new image. Choose a size larger than the original text file, or else the text file will just copy itself identically. Keep the "Create new image" checkbox marked and click "OK." A new image will appear with your tiled diagonal text.

Tips and warnings

In Photoshop, you must create your text image in the size that will be compatible to create the amount of tiling you want in your final image, as you cannot edit its size as a Pattern.

GIMP also offers the "Small Tiles" filter, which allows you to choose how many times you would like to repeat your text image. Unlike the "Tile" filter, it shrinks the text image into tiles and fits them into the existing image size, not allowing you to choose a larger image size.